Union urges Congress to make Pentagon quantify services contracting

The American Federation of Government Employees is asking Congress to step in and require the Defense Department to “improve the oversight and management for the vast sums it spends so carelessly on contracted services,” its president said in a late-April letter to congressional chairmen.

“Anything less is handing a blank check to the Pentagon to waste [money] on contracted services,” wrote national president J. David Cox in a letter urging that Congress require implementation of Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations that would establish more detailed long-term projections in spending on such services as information technology, research and development, and facilities maintenance.

“This action is needed to ensure that funds are properly allocated to the readiness and recapitalization priorities of the Department of Defense and not diverted to headquarters contracts,” Cox said.